
philosophy
philosophy
Media and digital ecosystems should serve the many, not the few.
We can achieve this through radical autonomy, giving people the power to understand and shape the forces that shape their technology, particularly sociopolitical forces & how they impact the design of the technology we use every day.
Humans are messy, society is messy. Big Tech takes its power from treating us like programmable inputs — but we are not. Taking back power for ourselves is about working with our irrationality, not against it.
philosophy
Media and digital ecosystems should serve the many, not the few.
We can achieve this through radical autonomy, giving people the power to understand and shape the forces that shape their technology, particularly sociopolitical forces & how they impact the design of the technology we use every day.
Humans are messy, society is messy. Big Tech takes its power from treating us like programmable inputs — but we are not. Taking back power for ourselves is about working with our irrationality, not against it.
process
Key Methods:
Service Design
Participatory Design
Systems Thinking
Design Thinking
Life-Centered Design
Ground the work in context
Design is not creation of some mythical order, and doing so often puts marginalised communities at real risk.
Listing all the assumptions you and others have made (no matter how obvious they may seem. Challenging them
Understanding that the communities you work with should be allowed to raise and discuss difficult and morally ambiguous issues at every stage of the process.
Focus initially on how things are, not how they should be
Ensure your design process and artefacts nurture the multiplicity of the world rather than flatten it.
Reject solutionism
The contemporary design canon often romanticises "solutionism"—the idea that every problem has a neatly designable fix. This mindset devalues continuity, tradition, and long-developed communal practices, often replacing context-rich solutions with flashy interventions optimised for short-term attention.
Build project timelines that anticipate multiple revisitations of the problem space, rather than a single "solution moment."
Include deliberate knowledge gaps and provocative prompts in documentation, so the work invites continuation.
Spend time after the formal end of a project to re-engage participants and capture what emerges in the gaps between interventions.
Develop metrics for success that value ecological and social resilience rather than mere novelty or press coverage.
Make values explicit
The myth of the "neutral designer" persists in critical discourse, promising an imagined vantage point above politics, culture, or ideology. But neutrality in design is both impossible and harmful, as it often reaffirms the dominant order by default. IRRATIONAL TECHNOLOGY's role is to help dismantle neutrality's appeal, making explicit the values, biases, and political stakes embedded in every design choice. This requires not only self-awareness but an openness to having one's values challenged and altered through the collaborative process.
Make design rationales publicly accessible and include notes on the political implications of major choices.
Encourage participants to interrogate my own framing and to suggest alternative perspectives.
Reject briefs that position the design role as apolitical, reframing them in terms of tangible social impact, even at the risk of discomforting sponsors or clients.
IRRATIONAL TECHNOLOGY is a design consultancy from Lou Millar MacHugh, a Gen Z Interaction Designer specialising in how technology, society, and power intersect.
It began as an educational initiative, raising design & tech literacy through TikTok explainers, in-depth essays & collaborations.
IIRRATIONAL TECHNOLOGY is a design consultancy from Lou Millar MacHugh, a Gen Z Interaction Designer specialising in how technology, society, and power intersect.
It began as an educational initiative, raising design & tech literacy on the political left through TikTok explainers, in-depth essays & collaborations.


philosophy
Media and digital ecosystems should serve the many, not the few. Humans are messy, society is messy. Big Tech takes its power from treating us like programmable inputs — but we are not. Taking back power for ourselves is about working with our irrationality, not against it
Design is not the author of order in a chaotic world; it is a process of navigating, noticing, and caring within persistent disorder. The real work is iterative, unresolved, and saturated by politics that refuse to stay in the background.
RRATIONAL TECHNOLOGY stands for design that accepts the ambiguity inherent in building proper collective infrastructure. Challenging this is an ongoing practice.
process
process
Key Methods:
Service Design
Participatory Design
Systems Thinking
Design Thinking
Life-Centered Design
Ground the work in context
Design is not creation of some mythical order, and doing so often puts marginalised communities at real risk.
Listing all the assumptions you and others have made (no matter how obvious they may seem. Challenging them
Understanding that the communities you work with should be allowed to raise and discuss difficult and morally ambiguous issues at every stage of the process.
Focus initially on how things are, not how they should be
Ensure your design process and artefacts nurture the multiplicity of the world rather than flatten it.
Reject solutionism
The contemporary design canon often romanticises "solutionism"—the idea that every problem has a neatly designable fix. This mindset devalues continuity, tradition, and long-developed communal practices, often replacing context-rich solutions with flashy interventions optimised for short-term attention.
Build project timelines that anticipate multiple revisitations of the problem space, rather than a single "solution moment."
Include deliberate knowledge gaps and provocative prompts in documentation, so the work invites continuation.
Spend time after the formal end of a project to re-engage participants and capture what emerges in the gaps between interventions.
Develop metrics for success that value ecological and social resilience rather than mere novelty or press coverage.
Make values explicit
The myth of the "neutral designer" persists in critical discourse, promising an imagined vantage point above politics, culture, or ideology. But neutrality in design is both impossible and harmful, as it often reaffirms the dominant order by default. IRRATIONAL TECHNOLOGY's role is to help dismantle neutrality's appeal, making explicit the values, biases, and political stakes embedded in every design choice. This requires not only self-awareness but an openness to having one's values challenged and altered through the collaborative process.
Make design rationales publicly accessible and include notes on the political implications of major choices.
Encourage participants to interrogate my own framing and to suggest alternative perspectives.
Reject briefs that position the design role as apolitical, reframing them in terms of tangible social impact, even at the risk of discomforting sponsors or clients.
inspiration
inspirations
inspirations
Discuss your ecosystem
Like what you see? Send a message using the form below, and I'll be in touch to schedule a free discovery call.
Do you prefer email?
lou@irrational-technology.studio


Copied
Discuss your ecosystem
Like what you see? Send a message using the form below, and I'll be in touch to schedule a free discovery call.
Do you prefer email?
lou@irrational-technology.studio


Copied
Discuss your ecosystem
Like what you see? Send a message using the form below, and I'll be in touch to schedule a free discovery call.
Do you prefer email?
lou@irrational-technology.studio


Copied